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Monday, May 28, 2018

It was one of those days!!!

I'm running short on time this morning. I've already resigned to the fact that I'll be late for Monday sewing. That has NEVER happened before. But this morning, I HAD to get some paperwork done. I had goofed around on the weekend and didn't get it finished and it just HAD to be done by this morning. I'm happy to report that one of the patterns has been sent in for approval. It's funny how we procrastinate on stuff like that. I know how to write patterns - I could practically write them in my sleep, but I needed to format this one which I can do, but there were a few things that were throwing me for a loop.

However, after getting some inspiration from the ladies yesterday (thanks to France!), I got an idea and I was able to get the pattern completed. Yeah! The next one should be a piece of cake because I only have to write the pattern, not worry about the formatting.

The other piece of paperwork got completed as well. Still a wee bit more to do and then I can honestly say that I'm pretty much caught up! There's a LOT of administration when you do freelance stuff. I can now see why quilt teachers have set classes and do not deviate from those classes. It saves them a ton of time making up new stuff. But I'm getting better and I do like the variety.

So yesterday was a Sit n Sew day. I think we should have called it Rip n Sew because I seemed to be doing a lot of ripping!!! I don't have time to tell you everything that happened but I'll share what I did. The rest will come later this week.

If you were observant, you know that I had a problem with one of my 150 Canadian Women blocks that I did last week.

One of these blocks is not right

And as I was showing my homework for the Farm Girl Vintage on the weekend, I noticed that one of the blocks wasn't right. My task yesterday was to fix both of those.

I started off with the 150 Canadian Women blocks. I took out the two pieces that were inverted and sewed them back into the block. Yeah - I'm done! Wait a minute - this isn't right!!!!!

Still a problem with this block

So while I got them in the same orientation this time, they were now backward!!! Seriously???? Once again, the seam ripper and I had a conference and this time when I resewed the block - it's RIGHT. And even if it isn't - this is the way it's staying!!!!

Success - at last

I'm not sure what time it was when I got this done, but it took a long time to fix. Of course, I was interrupted by questions from the others. No big deal - it's a day of fun!!!

Then onto the next problem. This is my block for Farm Girl Vintage. Notice that half of the star points have been inverted. I seem to have a sewing dyslexia problem these days.

Ooops - half the points are not right

Seriously??? How did I do that? Fortunately, it was a matter of taking the block apart and then taking TWO of the small sections apart and reversing them and I was good to go. But not before I sewed one of them back together in the same orientation as it had been. Obviously, I was seriously distracted yesterday!!!

But I'm happy to report that the block is now together. Yeah - I'll be sharing all the homework with you later this week. I promise!

Farm Girl Vintage block is now together

Then I decided to work on a block that I've been meaning to do for a while. It's paper pieced and I used directional brick fabric for the block. I had a lot of trouble getting the angles just right under the window on the left and now I'm realizing that I should have made that section the same color as the foundation on the right. OH GOD - what did I do???? Well, the block is already gone to its new home, so I can't change it. But let's just say that it took me all afternoon to make this one block.

House block

But here are some lessons learned when making this block. First - it's a good idea to think of the colors you're going to use. Don't just use the colors on the printout. Hence the foundation on that side is made of brick and not stone like the other side. Oh well. It was easy to use the brick for the rest as those pieces were straight - no angles. Second - DO NOT just whack off the edge of the block without using a ruler. You can see a slight curve in the upper right. That makes the block a wee bit shy of what it's supposed to be. I didn't trim the back. I left a note and will let the recipient trim as they see fit!!!! DAMN DAMN DAMN!!!!!!! Now I'll have to remake the block just to say that I did it correctly. NOT!!!!

Instead of doing paperwork last night, I got out my audiobook (to which there doesn't seem to be a point - just endless assassinations) and I stitched my lovely snowman or should I say snowlady! I'm making great progress on this block. I didn't get any additional blocks traced yesterday, but there are no major events coming up and I have a pretty open week. I hope to make good headway on a lot of stuff in the studio.

Progress on embroidery block

And my blog posts from QUILTsocial are live this week. Check out the first one here. It's all about my favorite features on the Husqvarna Viking line of sewing machines. Some people think that I'm a good sewist, but I'm not. I just have a really good machine that for the most part compensates for my lack of skills if the above is anything to judge by!!!